Neptune is currently in retrograde, in Pisces located at 25 Pis 58' 22"

Planetary Aspects

(out 5 Days)

Neptune is currently in Opposition Mercury

   Ends on Wednesday, 04 October, 2023

Neptune is currently Sextile Pluto

Neptune is Quincunx Venus

   Starts on Monday, 02 October, 2023
   Peaks on Wednesday, 04 October, 2023, orb 0° 59' 58"
   Ends on Thursday, 05 October, 2023

Neptune is Quincunx Mars

   Starts on Wednesday, 04 October, 2023

Upcoming Retrogrades

PlanetStationary (retrograde)Stationary (direct)In Sign
neptune2024-07-02 10:41:00 UTC2024-12-07 23:43:00 UTCPisces
neptune2025-07-04 21:34:00 UTC2025-12-10 12:24:00 UTCAries

As the farthest known planet from the Sun in our solar system, Neptune, the 8th planet’s astronomical description is entirely appropriate to its astrological. It’s the densest giant planet and it moves very slowly. In astrology, it rules Pisces and is considered the planet of deception, spirituality, illusion, and addiction. It’s not all bad, though- as with other things, the flip sides are the good sides and intuition, dreams, sensitivity, mercy and compassion also fall under its auspices.

Interestingly enough, you also can’t see Neptune without help and its discovery wasn’t by way of actually seeing it: it was actually found using math. Alexis Brouvard started to notice that Uranus was behaving a little funny so he shined a flashlight in its eyes- no no, actually, what happened was he noticed there were some changes in its orbit people hadn’t really expected. He recognized this was likely due to it being in close proximity to a planet they had yet to discover- and Urbain Le Verrier predicted a position that might explain this from there.

Then, in 1846, Johann Galle whipped out a telescope and went looking- and he found it within a degree of that exact position. Technically speaking, Galileo probably did discover it much earlier, but at the time he did so, he just assumed that it was fixed star.

Neptune is known as something of a reality altering influence- which probably explains why it rules drugs and addiction. That said: are all drugs bad? No, absolutely not. Is escaping reality bad? Have you SEEN reality lately? That said, it’s really kind of difficult to change a reality you cannot face- which is where the problem with Neptune tends to lay. It makes it a little more difficult to decipher facts when feelings are involved and the lies we tell ourselves often change our perception more than any mind altering substance could. Except for maybe mescaline. I’m pretty sure mescaline might beat out bullshitting yourself.

Still, there’s definitely something said for the power of hopes, dreams, and being able to see things in an almost naive light from time to time.

The Retrograde

We get one Neptune retrograde a year but it lasts for a little over 5 months. If you have had areas of your life where you’re not being quite as honest with yourself as you should be- you might be getting your cognitive dissonance thumped pretty hard. I have, however, seen enough of these cycles come and go to recognize that like all those types of things: cognitive dissonance thumped often just gets even stronger for it. Kind of a shame really.

What should happen, rather is that those things which obscure the truth, whether you did it or someone else does it clears away. Reality knocks, you answer the door- maybe sometimes this sucks, but ultimately, it beats continuing to believe something that’s simply not true.

Lies, no matter how many people tell them, no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise: are not the truth. Neptune retrograde is usually a time when the truth comes stomping on in and whether you sit down and look at it or not is entirely up to you.

Planetary Positions

30.09.2023 at 08:43:39 UTC

chart wheel
PlanetLongitude
The Sun06 Lib 56' 17"
The Moon19 Ari 59' 44"
Mercury22 Vir 05' 12"
Venus23 Leo 06' 58"
Mars22 Lib 04' 51"
Jupiter14 Tau 29' 14" R
Saturn01 Pis 30' 35" R
Uranus22 Tau 39' 17" R
Neptune25 Pis 58' 22" R
Pluto27 Cap 55' 08" R

Solar Status

BZ Status:-2
Proton Density:3.34
Proton Speed:422.5 k/sec
KP Status:2.33
TypeSep 30Oct 1Oct 2
Active35%20%40%
Minor20%10%25%
Moderate5%1%10%
Strong1%1%1%
Kp Index Prediction
00-03UT2.673.001.33
03-06UT3.672.332.00
06-09UT2.672.004.00
09-12UT2.002.004.00
12-15UT1.331.333.00
15-18UT1.001.002.33
18-21UT1.332.002.33
21-00UT2.332.673.33
Solar Activity
Solar activity was at low levels. The largest flare was a C7.5 at 29/1824 UTC from an unnumbered region just emerging near N17E79. Regions 3449 (N15E03, Csi/beta) and 3450 (S19E43, Eai/beta-gamma) continued to show slight growth. The rest of the spotted regions were either stable or slowly decaying. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed.
Solar Wind
Solar wind parameters were indicative of weak transient influence. Solar wind speed increased from approximately 400 km/s to around 450-480 km/s. Total field ranged from 6-8 nT while the Bz component was between +/-7 nT. Phi angle was mostly positive with a deviation into the negative sector between 29/0435-0845 UTC.
Energetic Particle
The greater than 2 MeV electron flux reached high levels with a peak of 3,090 pfu at 29/1455 UTC. The greater than 10 MeV proton flux was at background levels.